chemmie

English

Etymology 1

From chem(ical) +‎ -ie, compare chem (“chemical”).

Noun

chemmie (plural chemmies)

1. (slang, rare) A chemical, especially a recreational drug.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:recreational drug

   • 1996, Scott Russell Sanders, Terrarium, page 79:

     Within the next week he gave up all the rest of his chemmies: the wakers and dozers, the vim-pills, the breeze capsules. Bottle after bottle vanished down the recycling chute.

   • 2016, Michael Moorcock, King of the City:

     I'd picked up enough earlier to know that she was involved in some huge and maybe seriously dangerous deal involving several of the larger Central American countries her companies controlled and, whisper went, some nukes or chemmies, depending who you heard.

   • 2016, Scott Russell Sanders, Dancing in Dreamtime, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 267:

     “You're walking in your sleep.” / She looked about in confusion, then crossed arms over her chest. “Oh, my.” / “You aren't on anything, are you?” / The confusion in her eyes gave way to indignation. “I'd never touch a chemmie during mission, sir.”

Etymology 2

From chem(in de fer) +‎ -ie.

Noun

chemmie (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of chemmy (“the card game called chemin de fer”).
   • 1930, Donn Byrne, The Golden Goat, London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., page 122:

     And then the opera would be over, the tourists go home from their mild game of chemmie, and as the hour approached one the heavy gamblers would gather, like communicants of some esoteric faith about to celebrate their ritual.

   • 2019, William Feaver, The Lives of Lucian Freud: The Restless Years, 1922–1968, New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 510:

     After 1960, when the Gaming Act legalised gambling, there was chemmie or roulette to go for at the Clermont Club above Annabel's in Berkeley Square or at Siegi's in Charles Street, at the Playboy Club in Park Lane, Apron Strings in Chelsea and anywhere else where his credit held.